Congratulations to Shirley Harshenin whose story "Invisible Walls: A Decentred Hermit Crab Sticky Note Narrative" won gold at the 2023 National Magazine Awards for One-of-a-Kind Storytelling! "Invisible Walls: A Decentred Hermit Crab Sticky Note Narrative" appeared in Issue 292 (Summer Creative Nonfiction 2022).
Congratulations as well to Izza Hassan whose poem "Neighborhood Haunt & Hamsas Around My Neck," which appeared in Issue 290 BIPOC Solidarities, received an honorable mention in poetry.
Shirley Harshenin writes from her home in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. She believes in angels, caffeine, and the human spirit’s extraordinary resilience. Her work has been published in The Fiddlehead, Room, Contrary Magazine, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Entropy: Woven, Lit Mag Love Anthology I: Blood & Water, Nailed, Crack the Spine, The Nasiona, Young Ravens Literary Journal, FBCW Anthology, and others. She recently completed the 12-week writing program, Spark Your Story Intensive, and is a 2022 National Magazine Awards finalist. Shirley enjoys canoeing, nature walks, collaging, and spending time with her family. For more information visit www.shirleyharshenin.ca.
Izza Hassan (she/her) is an emerging Pakistani-Canadian writer living on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. Izza has an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing. Her writing explores themes of immigration trauma, colonialism, and belonging. Alongside recent poetry publications in magazines such as Contemporary Verse 2 and The Fiddlehead, she is currently working on her first book –— a project that has been generously funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Izza’s poem “Jet Lagged” received a notable mention in the Best Canadian Poetry 2021 Anthology.
